Text from Connections - Not reviewed or edited

Congregation Etz Chayim’s social action committee coordinates the
congregational involvement in community tikun olam activities. The
committee works with existing local organizations and may include the
coordination of people, the collection of funds or facilitation of Etz Chayim community donations for specific causes.

Activities through the social action committee are generally non-political, may not be specifically for the sole benefit of Jewish causes, and are focused on organizations on the Peninsula and in South Bay areas.
Social action activities upon which Etz Chayim is currently focused include hunger, homelessness and the environment. We also are interested in expanding into new areas of congregational concern.
In the hunger and homelessness arena,

Etz Chayim has participated in Breaking Bread for over 10 years. Our involvement includes preparing and feeding a dinner to some of the less fortunate in the Palo Alto area every fifth Wednesday at the First Presbyterian Church on Cowper Street. Breaking Bread volunteers work in two shifts.The first prepares the meal with food donated locally and in coordination with Urban Ministries. The second shift serves the meal and cleans up.

Additionally, there are activities, such as Halloween/Purim Costume drivesand the recent Basic Necessities drive, done in coordination with Sunday Friends, a local group helping the less fortunate in the South Bay.

In the environmental area, Etz Chayim has participated in the Adopt-A-Beach program through the California Coastal Commission. There are usually two to three beach cleanup activities per year at Half Moon Bay State Beach. Beach cleanups take place on Sunday afternoons in the fall through the spring, and they are great family social action activities. The committee is currently planning to participate in local non-native plant removal and native plant restoration activities at San Francisquito Creek in Palo Alto.

Other social action committee activities include: coordinating Etz Chayim’s participation in events at the annual Oshman Family JCC Mitzvah Day held on Martin Luther King Day in January, the recent Etz Chayim Charity Bakeoff benefitting the Palo Alto Jewish Family and Children’s Services, and representation in various local inter-faith social action initiatives. The social action committee is currently seeking interested congregants to help define new activities, establish and facilitate involvement and marshal congregants into action. If you are interested in participating in events, leading an activity or just being added to our e-mail list, please contact me at SocialActionChair@etzchayim.org.

Mark Lee, Social Action Chair